All Things Anne

24Sep

In 1908 a little book called Anne of Green Gables was printed. 104 years later it is still in print and drawing crowds to Prince Edward Island. PEI takes advantage of this love of all things Anne and has turned anything and everything even remotely related to Anne and Lucy Maud Montgomery into a tourist attraction. So if you don’t like a little red headed girl named Anne…you probably shouldn’t come to PEI, is what I’m saying.

Luckily I enjoy the book. Not to the extent that I need to go to anything remotely related to the author or the book but going to a few Anne related attractions was definitely on my to do list when going to PEI. Also I HAD to try raspberry cordial. Just because.

I wanted to go to Avonlea Village but this time of year almost nothing is open. Cavendish is like a ghost town, it’s kind of creepy.

The Anne of Green Gables Museum at Silver Bush was open though. So we went there. This museum is situated in the historic Campbell homestead where Lucy Maud Montgomery was married. This house helped inspire her to write about Anne and many of the other heroines she wrote about in her novels. It’s small, but it’s pretty interesting if you like historic houses. Which I do.

Green Gables Heritage Place. The official Green Gables tourist attraction. Operated by Parks Canada. The house and grounds are restored and decorated as Lucy Maud Montgomery described them in her novel. In real life, the farm belonged to David Jr. and his sister Margaret, who were cousins of L.M Montgomery’s grandfather.

According to the brochure, “The site commemorates the cultural landscape associated with the formative years and early career of world renowned author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Many places within this landscape held inspiration from this peaceful setting throughout her writing career.” So there’s that.

There’s also a couple of trails you can walk, named after those in the book, Lover’s Lane and the Haunted Wood. Nice, easy trails.

Then I had a bottle of Raspberry Cordial. Just because. An expensive, touristy bottle of raspberry cordial. Just because. It was tasty.